This application relates generally to cooking equipment. More specifically, this application relates to a grill assembly for cooking food outdoors.
Outdoor cooking is a popular activity that takes place in many different environments. These include natural environments like campsites, parks, and backyards, but also include other environments like parking lots near sporting events, amusement parks, and other venues. While some popular barbecue grills use liquid propane or natural gas as a fuel, those fuels are not easily portable to different locations or venues. Individuals interested in portable grills generally prefer the use of fuels like wood or charcoal.
A number of different designs are known for wood or charcoal grills. These range from extremely simple structures like a plain metal grille intended to be disposed over rocks that encircle a campfire to other structures intended for the use of charcoal. A typical charcoal grill has a metal housing with a top opening coverable with a hinged or otherwise removable lid. A charcoal grate is supported within a lower portion of the housing, with a food grate supported thereover within the housing. The two grates are installed within the housing by dropping them into the housing, which typically supports them with a series of upper and lower internal support tabs, enabling the grates to be removed to insert charcoal in the bottom portion of the housing.
Such conventional grills suffer from a number of drawbacks and limitations. For example, they are not very versatile, being designed exclusively for the use of either wood or charcoal as a fuel. Charcoal designs in particular are often not easily portable and generally suffer from difficulties of removing charcoal residue after cooking. In addition, conventional designs are not readily suited for use in the wide variety of environments in which outdoor cooking is desirable.
Embodiments of the invention address these limitations by providing an easily portable grill suitable for use with both wood and charcoal fuels in a wide variety of different environments.